1 defensive rebound in 19 minutes isn't great for as good a rebounder as he is. Obviously nobody was very good on the d-glass - Nazr and DD combined for only two themselves in 20 minutes, and Tayshaun a pathetic two in 44 minutes - but he is the fifth best rebounder on the team and considering how invisible he was in the 2nd I don't think it's an invalid criticism.

Bigger criticism: pick-and-roll defense.

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i think it's just looking for anything to pick on him about. i can accept saying he didn't play great d in the 2nd. but complaining your backup sg/sf was a bad rebounder cause he only got 3 rebounds isn't called for. it's just gravy the rebounds that he gives us in the first place. i don't think we should be counting on delfino to rebound.

8 point second quarter tells us that we have offense problems that are systemic, Chauncey or no Chauncey. Our offense was go to Rip time and again. I mentioned a few days back that that wouldn't work. Since we don't run sets, have players post or spot up in their spots, we are left with the point guard taking a lot of shots.

Watch other teams play offense and especially watch the west. Teams actually run their offenses. Guys get their looks. Sheed gets the ball wherever on the floor. Kobe is not used that way. Wade gets the ball on the left side, etc. We still haven't figured out the best use for Tay. Our offense is created or not created on the fly.

Our best overall weapon is Rip off the curl and that was already there with Larry. So what has been instituted this last year and a half?

Why were we zoning this team so much? A man to man with an occasional double on May and Okafor would have stopped them up.

We also have to ask Joe if we really have enough scoring on the bench. Since the championship year, we have not had consistent production there at all. I like Delfino's game but he is not a scorer. Dyss can only bring it in a flow (when we run sets but we don't). No offense from Lindsay or Blalock. Not much from Davis. Maxiell is the only consistent weapon but we have a hard time getting him the ball. We should be devising sets to get him the ball.

The Pistons have one of the best records in the league playing back to back games. Tonight they lost the second of a back to back to a depleted Charlotte Hornets team 103-96.

J-Max made his second start of the season in place of Sheed and did very well in the 1st quarter. Playing very good defense and hitting a few jumpers. The Bobcats were controlling the boards on both ends of the floor (Charlotte had a 44-33 rebounding edge). At the 4:15 mark of the quarter Sheed entered the game and ignited a 15-5 run by hitting a 3 getting a steal, and blocking a shot. The quarter ended 27-18 Detroit up.

The second quarter was a disaster, as Flip went with Blalock, Dice, Delfino, Sheed, and Rip. Derek Anderson came in for the Hornets and seemd to bother Rip a bit. He also provided some offense along with rookie Adam Morrison who caught fire. They sparked an 11-0 run to begin the quarter. The Pistons didn`t score until the 7:50 mark and were outscored in the quarter 27-8.

As the second half began it took about 54 second before Nazr picked up his 4th foul. His defense was terrible all night against Charlottes bigs. After Nazr checked out, Sheed entered and Detroits defense picked up. It was a game of runs for the next few minutes as Raymond Felton who missed wide open jumpers in the 1st half started hitting them. He was also running the pick and roll to perfection as the Pistons struggled to defend it for most of the night. After a monster slam by J-Max another block by Sheed, and a couple of jumpers by Sheed (including a 3) the quarter ended with Detroit only down by three, 68-65.

Detroits defense pulled a dissapearing act in the 4th quarter as the Bobcats went on a 12-3 run and never looked back. Felton (18 pts, 8 ass) and Morrison (16 pts off the bench) gave the Pistons fits. Charlotte unable to put this game away kept giving the Pistons a chance to win this game by committing silly turnovers and fouls. Despite a decent effort by Flip Murray he missed two layups that possibly could have made a difference, furhermore, Rip lost it and got tossed with 1:04 left in the game.

Hate to say it, but Blalock's -15 in only 9 minutes really killed us. If he didn't get those 2 garbage time gimme layups, then it would have been another game with 0 stats.

And guess who the +/- leader was tonight? Ronald "Flip" Murray. 2 great games in a row from the streaky shooter. 5 assists, 2 steals, and only 2 turnovers in 40 minutes.

Speaking of streaks, what a run Adam Morrison went on. He looked like the kind of guy that you just have to work on denying him the ball in the first place. Because once he got it, it didn't seem like the defender had much to do with whether or not he made the shot.

Overall, I'm not upset about this loss. It seemed like a character builder for some of the guys who were scrapping to try to make the comeback (Flip, Delfino, and company).

And the game was not wasted, because we got to see an insane dunk by Delfino. I've seen him throw down, but not with that kind of aggression.

To leave on a negative note, what the heck is Dyess doing out there? I can only remember one game in the last dozen where he looked like his old self... circa 2004-05.

rob parker was in joe d's suite today talking to him...probably trying to get the dish on webber. the crowd was probably around 17,000, and when we got down about 7 with a minute and a half to go, i'd say there were less than 10,000 left. i literally slept in my seat for a few minutes of the 3rd quarter and missed getting on the jumbotron to the guy next to me who liked to say 'drop drop drop' every time the pistons fired a shot.

maxiell did not have a good game. his 1st quarter was absolutely amazing though - he forced 4 or 5 turnovers, had 3 or 4 more knockaways, and played stellar defense against okafor. not to mention his sweet putback jam. but from the 2nd quarter on he got exposed for his terrible pick-and-roll defense. charlotte, instead of running iso plays for their big men, instead used felton for pick-and-rolls. for some reason maxiell kept switching onto felton when he didn't have to, and charlotte got 4 straight baskets from it. later in the game he cut toward the basket on defense, as if he was an offensive player. he totally left his man voskuhl who cut to the lane for his easiest points of the night.

delfino struggled early. morrison was eating him up. he played great later in the game when paired with tayshaun. playing his more natural position of shooting guard, he did the driving and dishing like he's supposed to, instead of taking spot-up jumpers like he did earlier in the game.

blalock was terrible. the bobcats scored at 'will' with him in the game, and i was actually sitting there hoping flip would come back in. flip actually had a nice game and was one of the few guys trying to exploit charlotte's frontcourt.

we couldn't grab a rebound. it was kinda sad watching us get outhustled. thankfully the maxiell defensive issue is correctable, but as a team we just ran iso plays all game and had very little ball movement.

after the game matt dery was hounding on sheed for his lack of energy (although i thought he had a decent game), and hounding on sheed for his attitude of the benching, telling flip to do it again instead of treating it as punishment, and setting a bad example. after the game flip was interviewed, and when asked about sheed he said 'i can't get a read on him.' wonderful. he was also asked if he yelled at his players after the game, or what they talked about, and he said they usually don't talk much after games, win or lose. great.

oh and maverick, delfino's sick dunk was #2 on their Top 10 plays of the day.

Charlotte did play well, hit a lot of shots. Shared the ball.l Played good D. And cleared the defensive glass. This last is something the Pistons did not do at all. Our bigs got outclassed all game long, although JMAX seemed to be holding his own at the start of the game.

JMAX got his second straight start. It started out a bit better than the last game, with us getting a few more points from JMAX in the first quarter vs. last night. Nice to see JMAX hit 3 of 3 at the line. After JMAX hit his first shot from the post, a very impressive drive to the middle, rise ans shoot type, you would think we would go right back to him. Flip Murray called his own number instead. I can live with that. A point guard does have to establish his own O. But I would still prefer we just kept feeding JMAX all night long. JMAX hit another shot like the first in the 2nd half, but he also missed some completely wide open shots. One on a post up move where he seemed to just get too close in, too close to the basket. It looks like he has been practicing the hard fade so much he forgot how to hit the easy ones. It does take practice, constant practice, to hit those closer in shots. Lets see how he does next game.

Dyess played little, contributed nothing. Delfino was one of the few Pistons making a difference on the boards, at least in there battling although Charlotte was coming up with the ball more often than not despite the effort. Delfino hit no outside shots, but scored on a fast break and some drives to the basket. One of them was a serious slam driving baseline left.

Tay hit some outside shots, drove in some, and he got a slam on a fast break alley oop from Rip.

Rip did some scoring for sure, but seemed to press a bit too much instead of trying to pass to someone for a less contested shot. Considering the percentage that do go down, can't fault him that much though.

Blalock did not do much. I did not like the hook he got when things went wrong though. Play the kid. Have faith in him. Look for other people to sub in.

Mohammed played little, getting a 4th foul early 3rd quarter, which gave us Sheed and JMAX in together for an extended period. Great. Two post up players, but look at the backcourt. Rip? All he is going to do is shoot the ball. Murray, he ain't feeding the post. Then by the time Blalock does come in, JMAX is sitting, and Delfino does not come in until a couple of minutes into the 4th. When JMAX came back in, of course now Murray is in, and soon Rip. No attempt at trying to get a post game to work--although altogether we did get it into JMAX more than last game.

Dale Davis played a bit, paired with Dyess a bit toward the end of the 3rd quarter, and I think to start the 4th quarter. Nothing of note, although the team did seem to perk up just for a bit with Dale in the game.

Murray scored 18. Defense? Not so great. Still, he knocked down a couple of triples I believe and other than maybe three ugly shots the rest were fine. I always like it when he attacks and gets to the line. GO PISTONS!!!! PS-Lets hope the problem with the boards is due to this being a 2nd of a back to back. Of course, we still do have Amir Johnson if we want a young, energetic rebounder in the game for us

Good thing I didn't have to pay for that game! I can tell what at least one of Sheed's problems is and it is more apparent when you are at the game. It is the Flips. More the player than the coach. Although the coach does take some blame because he decides who plays.

When the bigs are on the block establishing position, Murray is up top dribbling the air out of the ball. He is late making the pass to the wing (if he makes one) which means Sheed has to try and hold his position until Murray is done dribbling between his legs a few times. By the time he does mmake the pass, Sheed has no time to operate. Murray plays ZEROOOO defense. He stands at the free throw line while his man is surveying the floor like a quarterback at practice with the red jersey on from the top of the key. Flip does not apply any ball pressure to make the entry passes more difficult and I think his idea of a passing lane is on the highways up north. He doesn't know what playing the passing lane is. (Although if he thinks it is on the highway I would recommend him go play in it)

Sheed is not dumb. He knows that Murray does not give them a better chance to win. As a matter of fact I think he knows that with Murray playing big minutes; they have a much lesser chance of winning than by playing another player off the bench.(Delfino) So he is not going to bust his ass on the block to have Murray jack up his one-on-three jumper and then have to race to the other end to defend Murray's "Matador" Defensive effort.

Sheed is pissed. He is pissed at Murray's basketball skills , effort and IQ. And he is pissed that the coach keeps putting him in the games. BR> That is why Sheed wants to come off the bench right now. He would be playing with Delfino and Blaylock instead of "ball hog" Murray. At least he knows these guys will make the effort to get him the ball in scoring position and play a "working mans" defense on their man.

Sorry for the long post but being at the game allows you to see a lot more than on th tube.